Tighe

[RanCoWeAla]

I can't believe Spyderco has ruined another fantastic knife with tip down only pocket clip. This is the best looking I've seen in a long time but as I always do when looking at another knife to buy I went to you tube to watch some reviews . However the only one I was able to find shows what appears to be a tip down only pocket clip.The opening hole sits so high that it reminds me of another Spyderco model and some of the Bram Frank knives where you can use that big hump to open the knife coming out of your pocket. The main reason for mounting a clip for tip up carry is safety in the event it opens in your pocket but aside from that who wants to go in and out of your pocket over such an extremely pronounced bump when the back is perfectly round and smooth. I think it might also be possible to accidentally bump this thing and open the blade when coming out of your pocket. Then why bother with a lanyard hole when its going to be in the bottom of your pocket and makes absolutely no sense. I mean come on !!!!!!!

[tvenuto]

Feel better?

[gbelleh]

I agree that design looks like it would work much better tip-up in the pocket. And the clip isn't highly stylized or anything. Maybe you could remove the clip and use the lanyard hole to attach a suspension clip for tip-up carry?

[RanCoWeAla]

No I won't be owning one of these. I went from wanting one of these so bad I could hardly stand it to saying you couldn't give me one free if I had to keep it as soon as the guy in the video turned the knife over where I could see the clip. There is no reason whatsoever to mount a pocket clip for tip down carry only.

1- Safety to prevent stabbing yourself in the thigh all the way to the bone and I have heard of this
2- Comfort who wants to go over studs gimping square sharp edges and everything else.
3- The knife is in the wrong position when you come out of your pocket
4- it renders the lanyard hole totally useless
5- Would you put a tip down only clip on a knife with Emerson opener
6- It would be even more dangerous with an auto or assisted opener with flipper
7- You are not advertising that you are carrying in this case a dangerous weapon because the whole pivot end of the knife is showing as opposed to a knife with the butt end showing on a low ride clip like the Caly 3.5 where you don't see anything that distinguishes it as a knife.

I'm sure there are other reasons but this is just what I could come up with off the top of my head and if anyone can convince me that there is one single advantage to carrying tip down I'll run out and buy one.

[Liquid Cobra]

I don't know much about the tighe stick but perhaps the design requires it for some reason. Like how the Military is only tip down because it has no liner to screw into at the butt end of the knife.

[Surfingringo]

No I won't be owning one of these. I went from wanting one of these so bad I could hardly stand it to saying you couldn't give me one free if I had to keep it as soon as the guy in the video turned the knife over where I could see the clip. There is no reason whatsoever to mount a pocket clip for tip down carry only.

1- Safety to prevent stabbing yourself in the thigh all the way to the bone and I have heard of this
2- Comfort who wants to go over studs gimping square sharp edges and everything else.
3- The knife is in the wrong position when you come out of your pocket
4- it renders the lanyard hole totally useless
5- Would you put a tip down only clip on a knife with Emerson opener
6- It would be even more dangerous with an auto or assisted opener with flipper
7- You are not advertising that you are carrying in this case a dangerous weapon because the whole pivot end of the knife is showing as opposed to a knife with the butt end showing on a low ride clip like the Caly 3.5 where you don't see anything that distinguishes it as a knife.

I'm sure there are other reasons but this is just what I could come up with off the top of my head and if anyone can convince me that there is one single advantage to carrying tip down I'll run out and buy one.

1 and 4 are the important ones for me. I don't care about "deployment speed".

[jabba359]

Simple solution: carry it in your left pocket. I carry tip-up in my right, and a tip-down in the left. That always keeps the blade spine against the back seam of the pocket, making it difficult for the knife to accidentally open.

[gbelleh]

Or you can swap the clip to the other side and carry right front with spine against the seam.

[RanCoWeAla]

I knew I would think of something else later and I forgot to mention that the back of about 99% of knives is perfectly rounded and smooth . That's to provide a smooth comfortable surface for your hand to glide over as you go in and out of your pocket. This a a good knife with the potential to be a great knife and a top seller with a few modifications. By moving the clip to the other end to make the blade tip up and facing to the rear and putting some agressive serrations around the spyder hole I think it would be possible to open this knife like an Emerson. Just moving the clip would make a world of difference.I know why the clip is set up like it is and that because it more convenient since you have a wide flat surface on the pivot end and the butt end is narrow and tapered.. Other companies make this same mistake . A lot of the Micro Tech autos for example are set for tip down carry simply because they taper off to a point on the end. However you would think that knife companies and custom knife makers could figure out how to mount a clip right even if the knife is narrow on the end. By the way if you look at the Micro Tech D.O.C. and Whale Shark you see that the clip is mounted correctly on those models

[demoncase]

So.....you're not a fan of tip down then?

[RanCoWeAla]

Hahaha no never have been and never will be. I even think it should be against the law and an OSHA violation within the knife industry

[Liquid Cobra]

Hahaha no never have been and never will be. I even think it should be against the law and an OSHA violation within the knife industry

So you would deny tip down to your knife brothers that prefer it that way? Tsk tsk.

[yablanowitz]

if anyone can convince me that there is one single advantage to carrying tip down I'll run out and buy one.

Given the tone of your posts so far,I seriously doubt anyone can convince you of anything. Every knife that I've ever had come open in my pocket and cut me has been tip-up. That's reason enough for me to prefer tip down carry, but I'm sure that won't matter to you. I also buy pants with back pockets, and I carry my tip-down only Military in the front corner of my right back pocket, where the spine rides against the seam, just like the tip-up advocates claim they want for safety. I grasp the knife with my thumb and index finger on the Spyderhole, draw it and flick the handle down into my hand, something I can't easily do when the hole is buried in the bottom of my pocket. But that's only an advantage to me, and probably wouldn't work for you. Since I don't live around water, I don't use a lanyard often, although I do sometimes tie off when working aloft. Having the lanyard hole in the bottom of my pocket keeps the lanyard from snagging on things.

Food for thought.

[Surfingringo]

The lanyard hole is probably the biggest deal to me. Luckily my salt knives (on which a wrist lanyard is really important) are tip up.


Like how I managed to sneak a fishing picture into a Tighe Stick thread? :rolleyes:

Anyway, I agree with yablanowitz on the millie being a great back pocket knife. The Tighe Stick would probably do well there too.

[Milkman]

1- Safety to prevent stabbing yourself in the thigh all the way to the bone and I have heard of this

You can carry the knife with the blade up against the opposite side of the pocket to achieve a similar effect to placing a tip up knife against the seam.

2- Comfort who wants to go over studs gimping square sharp edges and everything else.

That's subjective.
3- The knife is in the wrong position when you come out of your pocket

Depends on the knife you're carrying. For larger knives like the Szabo or the Military. tip down is preferable. Also is preferable if you prefer a Spyder Drip style opening.

What most people misunderstand about the Szabo--and big folders in general--is that you need to reposition your hand before opening to ensure that you have enough leverage and enough thumb extension to open the blade. Because the handle is longer, when the knife is drawn from tip-up carry your hand is positioned too far from the blade hole to initiate an opening. Because of the weight of the blade and the pressure of the self-close mechanism, you'll actually want to choke up tighter than a smaller folder to give the thumb more leverage.

Until you've had a folder with an inadequate self-close or detent open accidentally in your pocket, you won't appreciate the effort that went into the Szabo's self-close mechanism or the safety it provides. If you want maximum deployment speed out of a Szabo, I recommend tip-down carry and a Spyder-Drop Opening.

4- it renders the lanyard hole totally useless

You could use a lanyard for instances other than taking a knife out of your pocket.

5- Would you put a tip down only clip on a knife with Emerson opener

No, because Emerson Openers are designed for tip up knives. Not really a fair criticism. You could still put a kinetic opener like the Bram Frank knives

6- It would be even more dangerous with an auto or assisted opener with flipper

How so? Michael Janich in this article for tactical life said that tip down was actually preferable for those types of knives.

If your preferred opening technique leans toward the blade-grip/handle-drop (aka “Spyder Drop,”) an index-finger “flipper” opening, or if your knife is a true button-fired automatic, tip-down carry is your best bet.

http://www.tactical-life.com/tactical-k ... own-carry/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

7- You are not advertising that you are carrying in this case a dangerous weapon because the whole pivot end of the knife is showing as opposed to a knife with the butt end showing on a low ride clip like the Caly 3.5 where you don't see anything that distinguishes it as a knife.

This one isn't a fair comparison since it assumes that all tip up clips are low riders and all tip downs aren't. There are tip up clips that show plenty of the tail end and tip down clips that show nothing but the clip.

I actually prefer tip up over tip down carry, but to say something has absolutely zero advantages is pretty close minded IMO.

[Evil D]

Ah what the heck. I have nothing better to do at the moment so I'll play along.

The main reason for mounting a clip for tip up carry is safety

Well, no. It may be safer having the spine against the seam of your pocket, but this is not the only reason. Many prefer tip down on longer knives because when drawing it out of your pocket, your hand is closer to the pivot and thumb hole. On a long handled knife carried tip up, when you draw the knife you have to shimmy your hand up the handle to the pivot hole, so any argument about deployment speed is pretty silly in this case. I'd bet every knife I own that I can draw and open a Military faster in tip down than anyone if carried tip up. It's just physics. You can grab the hole on the draw and spydie drop it open way faster than anyone can fumble around and get to the pivot. Again, this is primarily only an issue with large knifes, but the spydie drop works. Period. All that aside, remember that there are still plenty of people who don't use a clip at all and carry loose in their pocket, so if the blade coming open was such a huge risk, I don't think those people would do so (ask The Deacon how he carries his Stretch). It's all about that detent ball.

who wants to go in and out of your pocket over such an extremely pronounced bump when the back is perfectly round and smooth.

I'm with you 100% on this one. I don't necessarily agree with you in thinking that the purpose of a smooth "back" is to be smooth on your hand when going into your pocket...that's kinda silly. There are plenty of knives that have jimping on the spine which creates an equally uncomfortable surface to run your hand along. It's smooth because that's the part that presses into your palm in use, it's ergonomically shaped to the palm of your hand. If we compared this issue to a knife like the Rock Lobster that has no heavily pronounced thumb hole/ramp, then the blade side is just as smooth as the handle side when closed. All that aside, my biggest gripe here isn't even the thumb hole, it's the thumb ramp jimping scratching the side of your hand when going into your pocket.

I think it might also be possible to accidentally bump this thing and open the blade when coming out of your pocket.

Eh, anything is possible but this has never happened with my Military. I did have a similar accident happen with a Para 2 when carried tip down...somehow the blade snagged when clipping it into my pocket, causing the blade to open and actually stick through my pants. I didn't notice this until I brushed my hand onto the point sticking out, and cut/stabbed the side of my hand. I believe this was a fluke accident though. Even if the blade did bump open, wouldn't you have to get past the spine of the blade and the aforementioned thumb hole to get into your pocket anyway? How could you cut yourself? And still, remember those people like Paul who carry loose. This entire debate can be solved with a strong detent and close bias.

Then why bother with a lanyard hole when its going to be in the bottom of your pocket and makes absolutely no sense. I mean come on !!!!!!!

Again, I'm with you 100% on this one, this is a head scratcher. I usually don't bother with lanyards anyway, but on larger knives like the Military I could see their merits. Having a lanyard that's all the way at the bottom of your pocket sorta defeats the purpose. I suppose you could still use a hand loop type of lanyard to slip your hand through to prevent dropping the knife, otherwise you'd need a very long lanyard. But, yet again, there are still people who carry loose and their lanyard tubes aren't any lower in their pocket and they get by somehow.

1- Safety to prevent stabbing yourself in the thigh all the way to the bone and I have heard of this
2- Comfort who wants to go over studs gimping square sharp edges and everything else.
3- The knife is in the wrong position when you come out of your pocket
4- it renders the lanyard hole totally useless
5- Would you put a tip down only clip on a knife with Emerson opener
6- It would be even more dangerous with an auto or assisted opener with flipper
7- You are not advertising that you are carrying in this case a dangerous weapon because the whole pivot end of the knife is showing as opposed to a knife with the butt end showing on a low ride clip like the Caly 3.5 where you don't see anything that distinguishes it as a knife.

I'm sure there are other reasons but this is just what I could come up with off the top of my head and if anyone can convince me that there is one single advantage to carrying tip down I'll run out and buy one.

1- I'd call that natural selection. There are hundreds of thousands of happy Military users out there getting along just fine with tip down only.
2- Already covered this one. In most cases I'd probably agree though.
3- Highly debatable and possibly down right wrong depending on deployment method. It's all about the spydie drop. This was the first video on a search for "spydie drop". Aside from a wave or assisted opener, I'd say this is probably THE fastest deployment method for a thumb hole knife. The only possible competition that this method has, is if you're carrying tip up on a knife that is so short you can get your thumb on the hole while still clipped in your pocket, so your thumb is already in place when the knife exits your pocket. At that point it becomes a pretty similar draw action anyway.
https://youtu.be/noQTx2LTad4

4- Agree 100%.
5- No, but this knife doesn't have an Emerson opener so this point is useless in this case
6- Tell that to Kershaw and ZT since most of their knives have both options. Those options are there because someone out there still prefers tip down. Again, I think detent strength is what keeps this from being a huge liability issue, otherwise Kershaw/ZT would have been sued a billion times by now.
7- Yeeeeeah I guess I see your point here, but again there's an awful lot of happy Military users and even more people who still prefer tip down. If we're going to debate concealment potential then there's a whole other thread of issues and you better just start right off the bat with a deep carry clip so that rules out like 98% of Spyderco knives altogether.

:)

[demoncase]

I'll be the odd one out* and say I carry my up-to-Delica size blades tip up and my bigger knives tip down.....But that's not a hard rule: My Harpy is a 'smaller' blade but is tip down only.

*Though it appears that the sage Mr Janich got there first with science and stuff.

[ABX2011]

Spyderco seems to favor the 4-way clip whenever possible. So when they don't have as many options I assume there's a pretty good reason.

[bearfacedkiller]

I prefer tip down.

I am glad clip orientation isn't a deciding factor for me. There are two many great knives I would be missing out on. I definitely am not opinionated about it enough that I need to rant about it. :)

[BDNX]

So let me get this straight....you DON'T like tip down then???